Pressure cooking-machine.



H. L. STAFFORD. PRESSURE 000mm; MACHINE.

- APPLICATION FILED SEPT- l4. I914- 1,1 59,728. Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l- H. L. STAFFORD.

PRESSURE COOKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 14, 1914.

1,159,728. Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

HENRY L. STAFFORD, 0F LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA.

PRESSURE COOKING-MACHINE. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

Application filed September 14, 1914. Serial No. 861,507.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY L. STArronn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Long Beach, intthe county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Pressure Cool cing-lvlachine, of which the following is a specification.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a pressure cooking machine for packaged goods, particularly those contained in cans and 1 accomplish this by providing an air-tight cooking chamber into which steam may be forced under pressure, means for conveying the packaged goods through the steam chamber and means for feeding said cans into the chamber and passing the cans from the chamber without the escape of an appreciable amount of steam.

Another and equally important object of the invention is to provide, in an apparatus of this nature, a series of inclined serpentine guides or runways, which will carry the packaged goods over the greatest possible distance as they are passing through the cooking chamber.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pressure cooking machine of extremelv simple and practical construction having no intricate parts to become disarranged. i

\Vith these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction, combination and arrange- .ment of parts as will be hereinafter fully described, claimed and illustrated.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a top plan view of my pressure cooking machine. Fig. .2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a front end elevation. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken on the plane of line ac -or, of Fig. Fig. I is a horizontal sectional view taken on plane of line w"-af', of Fig. 4. Fig. (3 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken on plane of line m--w" of Fig. 5.

Generally speaking, my machine or apparatus consists of a steam tight cooking chamber, a series of parallel serpentine runways or chutes to successively convey goods through the steam chamber, elevators for raising the goods from the lower end of one runway to the upper end of the next runway and valves to control the ingress and egress of the articles.

1 designates as an entirety, the airtight cooking chamber, consisting in the present embodiment of my invention, of a bottom 2, top 3, side walls 4, a front wall 5 and a rear wall 6, all of which are preferably formed of sheet metal.

The chutes or runways are generally designated by the numerals 7,8, 9 and 10 and are preferably formed of lengths of sheet metal bent back upon themselves to provide a plurality of inclined sections as best shown in Fig. 4. Here it will be seen that the runways are provided with side walls or flanges 11, which, with the bottom walls 12, form a continuous channel through which the cans 13 roll. The runways may be supported by any suitable means such as the frames 14.

The means provided for lifting the cans from the lower terminal of one elevator to the upper terminal of the next elevator consists of a plurality of vertically arranged spiral conveyors 15 operated within the cylinder casings 1G rigidly secured to the bottom *2, of the cooking chamber. The shafts 17 are provided at their upper terminals with gears 18, and the lower ends of 'the shafts 17 are received within bearings 19 formed integrally on the bottom walls of the conveyor casings. These casings are providcd near their lower ends with entrance openings 19', adjacent the lower ends of the runways'r', 8 and 9, and near their upper ends with discharge openings 20, above the upper end portions 21 of the runways 8, 9 and 10. It will be noted that the portions 21 of the runways or chutes 8 are bent toward the elevators at the rear of the cooking chamber and that the corresponding portions 21 of the runways 9 are bent toward the elevators at the front of the apparatus.

The valves which control the admission and emission of the cans 13 comprise a feed valve 22 and a discharge valve 23. The

valve 22 is a circular disk equal in thickness I to the length of the cans l3, and is provided with pockets 24 into which the cans are receivcd as they pass from the chute 25. A casing 26 surrounds the valve 22 and is provided with an opening 27, adjacent the lower cud of the chute 25. The front wall 5 of the cooking chamber is provided with an opening 28. through which the cans pass onto the upper end of the runway 7. It will be seen that this valve prevents the escape of any appreciable amount of steam iron cooking chamber. The valve 23 is similar to the valve 22- and therefore need not. be described in detail.

The gearing which drives the valves and the elevators comprises a horizontal shaft 29 equipped with a power pulley 30 which drives the vertical shaft 31 through the medium of the meshing bevel gears 32. A second horizontal shaft 33' is rigid with the valve22 and is driven by bevel gearsfrom theshaft 31 and'drives in turn a short vertical shaft 3%. This last mentioned shaft drives, by the bevel gearing 35, horizontal longitudinal shaft 36 which imparts po-wer to the transverse shafts 37, passing across the top of the machine. These transversel' 'shafts carry worms 38 which drive the gears 18 thus imparting rotation to the spiral con; veyers, The valve 23 is driven by gearing from the shaft 36 as illustrated. To determine, the pressure Within the steam chamber I provide a pressure gage 39.

The temperature within the-chamber is in-' dicated by a thermometer-4E0. f Steam may be admitted to the casing, l through any suitable means snchfiasthevalve 41. t

From the doregoingdescription, taken in connectionfiwith the accompanying drawings, it ,will be seen that I have provided a ,very cbinpact cooking apparatus in which superheated steam may be injected under pressure and one which is very compact in form. This compactness is secured by arranging the'elevators alternately at the ends of the casings thus making it possible to place the runways very close together.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention itwill be understood that I do not wish to be limited to the exact construction herein shown and described but may make such changes from time to time as will fall Wlthin the scope and spirit of the invention as claimed. 7

The time required for-cooking thefish depends upon the number of revolutions of the valve 22 and upon the number of the tracks 7 and upon the temperature,

"What I claim is 1. In a cooker, a casing, a vertically arranged series of parallel inclined serpentine runways within said casing, said runways being spaced and free from connecting with each other, means for feeding cans to the upper end of the first of said runways and means for lifting the cans vertically from the lower end of one runway to the upper end of the next runway.

2. In a cooking machine, an airetight cas-' 'ets to receive the packaged goods and, to dis charge them into the runway, keeping the opening continuously closed.

3. In a cooking apparatus of the charac ter described, an air-tight steam chamber, a

series of parallel serpentine runways arranged in vertical planes, said runways being spaced and free from connection with one another, spiral elevators-to raise pack.-

aged goods from the lower ends of the runways to the upper ends and means for feeding packaged goods into and from the steam chamber without allowing an appreciable amount of steam to escape.

4. In an apparatus of the scribed, an airtight steam chamber, a plu rality of inclined serpentine runways a'rcharacter deranged within said chamber, spiral elevators for raising packaged goods from one runsurrounding each or said elevators formed with entrance and exit openings, entrance and exit openings formed in the steam pasing, valve casings communicating with said last mentioned openings, disk -'valves with- '90 way to the top-of the next runway, a casing I in the second mentioned casings, having pockets formed in their peripheries to receive the packaged goods and means for si' multaneously operating the elevators and valves. y

In testimony 'whereof,.1 have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 1st day of September 1914.

. HENRY L. STAFFORD. In presence of G. T. HrACKLEY,

LORRAINE E. DURROW. 

